King's Moment

Chapter Four: The First Time, The First Step

He Yu was drinking soda and waiting for He Liang outside the student supermarket when he suddenly saw a group of people emerge from the bustling tree-lined path and walk towards him. The student supermarket was right behind him, so He Yu didn't think much of it. But to his surprise, the group stopped right in front of him and all stared at him.

"Is there something you need?" He Yu stood up, puzzled, and glanced around. The smiling girl in front of him seemed vaguely familiar, but before he could think about it, a boy next to him spoke up.

"Hey classmate, can you do us a favor?" It was Zhang Chenghao who spoke. He was the one who chose the person, so he stepped forward to negotiate without hesitation.

"What's wrong?" He Yu asked, puzzled. He was just a freshman who had just entered the school and hadn't even gotten to know his classmates or roommates yet. He couldn't think of anything he could do to help.

"Do you know the mobile game Honor of Kings?" Zhang Chenghao asked.

He Yu was stunned. He knew more than just about Honor of Kings. In the five years since his brother He Liang became a professional player, he hadn't missed a single professional match, even paying close attention to preseason training matches, friendly matches, and exhibition matches. Honor of Kings was both familiar and unfamiliar to him. Familiar because he had followed so many professional matches for so long, unfamiliar because he had never actually tried the game himself. It wasn't that he wasn't curious; it was just that his parents were more worried about He Liang's involvement in esports, and he couldn't imagine how they would feel seeing another child in their family equally passionate about the game. He didn't want to worry his parents, so for the past five years, he had only followed He Liang and the KPL, but had never actually tried the game himself.

When asked this question suddenly, He Liang was at a loss for words. After a moment of hesitation, he finally nodded.

"Here's the thing, we're preparing for a 3v3 match, but we're short one player. Why don't you lend a hand?" Zhang Chenghao said.

"One person short?" He Yu looked around, puzzled. There were so many people crowding around that he couldn't even count them all. There were enough people to fill several 5v5 matches, let alone 3v3. Why did they need to come up to him specifically to make up the numbers?

“To be precise, we’re one person short. These are all their people, so we had to find a passerby to help us,” the somewhat familiar-looking girl said, stepping forward. The bespectacled boy standing next to her nodded when He Yu looked over.

Zhang Chenghao felt this was a perfect opportunity to humiliate Gao Ge and vent his anger, and he couldn't bear to miss it. He quickly followed up and earnestly persuaded, "Classmate, please help me! A game only takes a few minutes, it won't take up too much of your time. If you don't have anything urgent to do..."

"I... don't have anything urgent." He Liang was somewhat tempted. How could he not be curious, not be tempted, about something he'd been seriously following for five years? He'd thought about trying it countless times, but ultimately managed to restrain himself. But now, it wasn't his own initiative; someone needed help...

Give it a try!

The voice that had been suppressed for so long cried out in his heart. The situation before him, which seemed to be going smoothly, completely rekindled his long-held desire, and He Yu nodded as if possessed.

"Thank you," Gao Ge said, looking at Zhang Chenghao with a bright smile. "Let's begin then."

Gao Ge's words made Zhang Chenghao's heart skip a beat, but then He Yu said, "Let me download the game first."

Now it was Zhang Chenghao's turn to smile broadly. Someone who didn't even have King of Glory installed on their phone obviously didn't know how to play, just as he'd hoped. Suddenly, he found He Yu much more agreeable, and his tone became even more friendly: "No rush, we'll wait for you. Or we can lend you a phone."

Upon hearing this, He Yu thought it was a clean and efficient solution. He could try it once and then return the phone to the owner, then go about his business. He Yu seriously doubted whether he could bear to delete the game after downloading it to his own phone. So he nodded to Zhang Chenghao and said, "Then lend it to me."

"Xiao Ji, can I borrow your account from this classmate? Your phone is good, and you have a pretty complete set of heroes and runes." Zhang Chenghao turned his head and said generously to one of his companions.

"Oh." The classmate called Xiao Ji immediately handed his phone to He Yu. He Yu took it, thanked him, logged into the game, and looked at Gao Ge and Zhou Mo.

Hearing that He Yu didn't even have any games on his phone, Zhou Mo's expression became even more resolute. Gao Ge, on the other hand, became puzzled, wondering if she had mistaken him for someone else.

However, she hadn't seen He Yu at the student affairs office for long, and she always paid close attention to people who knew how to play King of Glory. She clearly remembered that the boy in front of her was the one who had given pointers to the newbie Pan Ruiming in the student affairs office. Although she had only heard a few simple words, they showed that he was extremely familiar with King of Glory. Moreover, he was the younger brother of He Liang, a former KPL professional player.

So, the reason why there's no Honor of Kings on the phone must be because they just got a new phone or something else, right? Gao Ge thought to herself, ultimately not believing that He Yu, who had given Pan Ruiming such detailed advice, didn't know how to play Honor of Kings. She nodded to He Yu, while Zhang Chenghao had already impatiently created a 3v3 match room and invited them.

The group entered the room one after another. He Yu saw that the three of them all had IDs prefixed with their team names: Huangchao.Chenghao, Huangchao.Mutong, and Huangchao.Kaihuai.

The two teammates on their side were from a team called Lang7, and their IDs were Lang7.Gaoge and Lang7.Zhoumo. As for He Yu, since he borrowed the other party's account, he also had an ID with the prefix "Huangchao", called Huangchao.Xiaoji.

"Can we begin?" He Yu asked, his voice trembling slightly with anticipation. Five years of watching and enduring had finally brought this opportunity. Although it wasn't the usual King's Canyon match, but rather a less popular battle like the Changping Siege, it was enough for him. Summoning his own heroes, walking and fighting under turrets, on minion waves, and in the jungle... such scenes had always only existed in He Yu's dreams, but now they were about to become reality. Whether it was King's Canyon or the Changping Siege, it didn't matter.

"No rush, let's discuss this first." Gao Ge said, looking at Zhang Chenghao and the others, "Shouldn't we keep some distance?"

“Okay.” Zhang Chenghao nodded. He didn’t want the other side to overhear their commands and communication, so he and his two teammates walked away, maintaining a distance that would not interfere with each other.

"What hero do you use?" Gao Ge asked He Yu.

Li Bai!

He Yu was about to blurt it out instinctively. That was his brother He Liang's best hero, and He Yu had always admired the figure of him wielding swords across the King's Canyon. If he only had one chance to play, he would most want to try Li Bai. But he held back. Li Bai was just a hero he wanted to use; what the team needed depended on his teammates and the enemy heroes. Choosing a hero was about winning, not just personal preference.

"What do you need me to use?" He Yu asked, suppressing the urge to use Li Bai.

“I’ll use Zhuge Liang, he’ll use Su Lie. Which one do you think is better to use?” Gao Ge asked.

“If we’re talking about the Battle of Changping, how about I bring in Huang Zhong?” He Yu said.

"Oh? You've studied the Battle of Changping too?" Gao Ge was a little surprised. Familiarity with this map has nothing to do with skill level; it's just that it's not popular, and few players study it in depth.

"I wouldn't call it research, I just know a little bit about it," He Yu said. There is no Changping Attack and Defense map in the KPL professional arena, but He Yu's attention to professional matches is not limited to official matches. He has seen Changping Attack and Defense in some exhibition matches, so he is not unfamiliar with this map and has some understanding of it in these informal matches.

"So what's the key point of this map?" Gao Ge asked. Zhou Mo, standing nearby, already showed a surprised expression. Considering team composition and understanding the Changping Siege, this random player couldn't possibly be someone who didn't know how to play. Didn't they have King of Glory installed on their phone? Maybe there was some other reason, Zhou Mo immediately thought. So what's the key point of this map? Zhou Mo also started paying attention; the Changping Siege was actually quite unfamiliar to him as well.

"Wilderness economy," He Yu said.

"This...has always been the case, right?" Zhou Mo couldn't help but ask. He had thought there was something special about it that he didn't know about. But jungle economy? In the 5v5 King's Canyon, isn't that a key point? It's just the norm.

"Be more specific," Gao Ge asked patiently, pressing further. This surprised Zhou Mo. He knew Gao Ge well, and he had already sensed the unusual attitude Gao Ge had shown towards this passerby.

“It’s different from the King of Glory map. In the Battle of Changping, there’s only one lane for minions, but the jungle is divided into upper and lower sections. There are a lot of jungle monsters, nine in the upper section and fifteen in the lower section including the Tyrant. And they respawn much faster. Some of the functional jungle monsters respawn every one to two minutes, but there are a total of sixteen regular jungle monsters that respawn every 35 seconds, which is only half the respawn time of regular jungle monsters in the King of Glory map,” He Yu said.

"I see." Gao Ge and Zhou Mo were both high-ranking players, and upon hearing such a clear explanation, they immediately realized how crucial "jungle economy" was; further explanation was unnecessary. After the three finished preparing, they called out to each other, and Zhang Chenghao's team, already impatient, immediately started the match. Following their agreement, the three selected their heroes and entered the loading screen, seeing that the opposing team had chosen Yang Jian, Luna, and Sun Shangxiang respectively.

"Luna..." He Yu sighed after seeing the opponent's lineup.

"Is there a problem?" Gao Ge asked.

"There's no blue buff on this map," He Yu lamented for his opponent.

"It seems the Royal Dynasty team is quite unfamiliar with the Battle of Changping!" Gao Ge remarked. The Blue Buff, officially called the Azure Statue Power in the game, is obtained by defeating Azure Statue in the jungle. Its effect is to reduce hero skill cooldowns by 20% and provide an additional 2 mana regeneration per second for 70 seconds. Many heroes in the game heavily rely on the Blue Buff, and Luna, the hero Zhang Chenghao chose, is a prime example. Without the Blue Buff, Luna struggles with both skill combos and mana consumption. Therefore, targeting the Blue Buff and preventing Luna from obtaining it is a common strategy when facing heroes like Luna. However, in this particular map, there was simply no mana, as if a hero had been banned during the draft phase – a clean and decisive move.

The match loaded quickly, and both teams' heroes respawned in their respective fountains. This was He Yu's first time facing heroes as a summoner, and his excited and thrilled feelings suddenly calmed down at that moment.

"Leave the minion wave to us, you go to the top jungle to farm the monsters," Gao Ge said.

"Understood." He Yu nodded, somewhat clumsily controlling his Huang Zhong, taking his first step in King of Glory.